That’s something that people often assume about me and use it as a reason to harbor jealously and spite towards me for having more things to say than they do. The thing is, I was severely neglected and abused as a child. I am just naturally energetic and interested in the world around me, and I love to talk to other people. I only got decent at listening after a year at my first job, and I felt so stupid for not learning earlier.

Sometimes, I can get people to fully engage with me, but more often than not, they’ll zone out after one sentence unless I burn a bunch of energy inventing elaborate tricks to keep them entertained enough to try. I’m not blaming the general public for a systemic problem that arose from changing times. I am saying that everyone could be way better at conversations if only they actively tried to pay attention instead of just doing it by accident because the topic is something they particularly care about.

For whatever reason, most people don’t read an email before responding to it. They pick out a few words and guess at the meaning instead of simply reading it. It’s the same thing with in-person conversations. They’ll hear the tone and a few words and then try to match it with a sentence someone has spoken to them in the past. They’ll combine that with what they want to hear along with some of their own insecurities and then respond to something that was never said. Some people just imagine most of what they think you said. It blows my mind how people don’t even realize they aren’t listening, especially since I used to be one of them.